N. Korean newspaper refers to successor son as head of key party organ

SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's main newspaper referred to the successor son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as head of a key ruling Workers' Party organ in a series of articles Monday, indicating that the son is on track to take full control of the communist nation.

One of the titles the late leader held before his Dec. 17 death was the party's general secretary, a post that automatically makes its holder head of the party's powerful Central Military Commission.

Last year, the late Kim named his third son, Kim Jong-un, as vice chairman of the commission while promoting him to the rank of a four-star general at the same time in his first official steps to hand power over to the young son believed to be in his late 20s.

On Monday, Pyongyang's Rodong Sinmun newspaper referred to the successor son as head of the commission in a series of articles calling for loyalty to him, an indication that the son is acting as the commission's chairman and the party's general secretary.

It also suggests that the regime would start working to help the son to formally take over the top titles his late father held, including the party's general secretary and the supreme commander of the North's Korean People's Army.

"All party organizations across the country are upholding great comrade Kim Jong-un's ideology and leadership with one mind," the newspaper said in an article. "Let's stake our lives to safeguard the party's Central Military Commission led by dear comrade Kim Jong-un."